So serial party defector Winston McKenzie has joined the Big Brother house. What could possibly go wrong? He’s been a member of every political party apart from Labour. In the autumn he left UKIP to join the poor old English Democrats. What on earth did they do to deserve that? In a parting shot he accused the UKIP top echelons of UKIP of racism for failing to see the merits of selecting him as their candidate for Mayor of London. This was a repeat of what happened in 2008 when he inexplicably lost out to Boris in the Tory mayoral contest. When he announced he was joining UKIP I remember speaking to Nigel Farage and suggesting he might find Winston too hot to handle. It was one in a series of warning to the UKIP leader about several people who decided to use UKIP to further their ambitions. He ignored every one of them and has lived to regret it. I have little doubt that McKenzie won’t last the course in the Big Brother house. His loathsome character will be the undoing of him.
*
So Keith Vaz deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts, leading to all sorts of speculation as to why he has done it, given the size of his ego and willingness to comment on any issue at the drop of a hat. I imagine he was quickly suffering from cold turkey syndrome because yesterday morning he created a new Twitter account. Curiouser and curiouser.
*
The last time I did a major interview with Alex Salmond it got him into a bit of trouble with the reptiles north of the border. He had the temerity to suggest that Margaret Thatcher wasn’t all bad. Cue stooshie after stooshie in the Scottish press. It dominated the headlines for three days. So I was more than gruntled to announce last week that from Wednesday he’ll be doing a weekly phone-in with me on my radio show on LBC. So excited is Chris Grayling by the prospect that he told the House of Commons in business questions yesterday that he’d be listening. Whatever you think of Alex Salmond’s politics he will be a class act on the radio. He did point out to me that maybe our station moniker of ‘Leading Britain’s Conversation’ should be changed to ‘Leaving Britain’s Conversation’. Boom boom. Anyway, do tune in on Wednesday at 4.
***
It’s difficult to know what to write about Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle that hasn’t already been said. Rarely has so much been written about so little. One person was sacked, one was moved. Big. Effing. Deal. And that took 38 hours to sort out. Corbyn seems to be even more indecisive than Gordon Brown. I was, however, profoundly shocked by one thing – the sacking of Pat McFadden. Corbyn has every right to form his team in his own image and get rid of troublemakers, but to actually tell McFadden he was being sacked for his comments on standing up to terrorists beggared belief. In case you’ve forgotten he stood up in the Commons after the Paris attacks and asked the PM this…
I don’t understand how any sane person could disagree with a word of that. The fact that Jeremy Corbyn does tells you all you need to know and further fuels the Tory narrative that he can’t be trusted with our national security.
***
What lessons can we draw from the fact that North Korea claims to have set off a Hydrogen Bomb? Simple. That anyone who continues to support unilateral nuclear disarmament is either not living in the real world, is someone who doesn’t understand the nation’s defence needs, or is a traitor to their country. Or all three.
*
Just as a final treat, I interviewed Charles Moore about the second volume of his Margaret Thatcher biography recently. It’s well worth a listen. You can do so by clicking HERE (insert link http://lbc.audioagain.com/player_popup.php?item_id=86390&channel_id=0&user_id=59976&sec_id=523dacf88bde04cd4ebf8b6ca0bc57d6e3da17f8&guid=2016-01/04/3107e3efcb01e7dda40cf8e88d89c8c7 )
